More Guerilla Things

This time it's the Guerilla Gardening!

There are a number of blank bits of land around me, generally overrun by large sticky spikey weeds, grass and litter. I can't help eyeing these every day, as someone who has to get her hands into the soil regularly, and wondering if there's more that can be done with them.

Case in point is the slope below my house. The building is on a steep hill, so earth was brought in to level it out, the back cut into the hill, and where my lawn ends the ground drops steeply. It affords a wonderful view over the neighbour's roofs, but is neglected and unsightly.

I'm all for edible landscaping. I believe in random planting - throwing plants together, or chucking a few handfuls of seeds around, and watching what happens. My own garden is a mix of things that are good to look at and things that are good to eat. I guess it's an unofficial form of companion-planting, but it seems to work (most times - onions don't grow next to carrots too well, we noticed).

At the moment it's dry season here. The grass is brown, the soil dusty - ideal for digging out the roots of grass and weeds, shaking off the dust to maintain soil volume, and sticking in something to replace it. The slope is right near my garden tap, makes for easy watering and keeping an eye on the growing things. Growing a few food items for public consumption may help solve the "hungry student" problem we've been told about, and adding in things good to look at will get rid of the eyesore.

There's just one problem. Garden services. They have the run of the campus, and are headed up by an English lady who prefers neatly ordered, trimmed to death landscaping. I'm more in favour of rambling natural habitats, so we sometimes clash when it comes to what's acceptable. I've banned them from my property for taking out every living thing with their weedeaters (those electric things with a plastic cord that spins and cuts and destroys whatever it passes over). They've just been over that slope and cut to root level whatever was growing. Fortunately the arums planted along the fence are past their season, and will regrow come winter. But I fear that if I should plant out that slope, they won't notice. While I'm at work, they'll come through and mow it down again before things can take root and flourish. I can warn the lady in charge of what I'm up to (which would then not really be guerilla gardening), but her workers may not get the message.

And there's another problem. My neighbours (recently moved in, and now taking over where they see fit). Along with my little front yard, I also have a side garden, being on the end of the flats. Part of it I've planted out with roses, herbs and a few watermelon seeds. The end of it was a compost heap, recipient of all my garden waste for the past 4 years, percolating nicely into soil enrichment. Yesterday I arrived home for lunch - and the compost heap, accompanying grass and a creeper were GONE. My garden tools were lying around the cleared area, all that remained on that end were two poles. I was p'd off. Completely. And (nicely) informed the neighbour that he needs to butt out of my area. It's not the first time they've done this. There are a few trees over the parking place, which I have been trimming to help grow up and still provide shade. They decided one was overhanging a bit and simply broke out half the tree's branches on one side. I said nothing - but THIS time they've gone a bit too far.

Will what I want to plant on my slope (which also borders their slope) survive? Not if they keep this up. Perhaps once the wife is out of the house during the day and studying, they'll have less time to mess with my stuff and clear out my garden.

But I'll warn them too.

And this is starting to look a lot less like guerilla gardening! Perhaps I should rather call it extended gardening? Gardening without borders? Intervention gardening? Feed-the-public gardening? Greening the verges?